Is it really needed?

Yes, if you consider that the previous version of Zapfino only had AAT features and not OT features. Zapfino Extra's features work in InDesign; the older Zapfino had to be used manually. OT features mean that it can be used as intended in a professional app like InDesign and not just an OS utility like TextEdit.

Make sense?

I think its great. A nice alternative to Bickham Script.

>"Zapfino Extra" clearly marks a new breakthrough in the use of attractive and dynamic typographic solutions with a computer.

I am quite sick of the word "solutions". Why does everyone seem to be using it? Is it marketing-speak?

Of the four people who responded, when was the last time you used Zapfino in a job. In my case never, so why would I need a new fancier one. I live in NYC and haven't driven a car in 11yrs. If someone gave me a car it would be useless.

== Off-topic ==

By the way, the phrase is "Gilding the lilly." (As in, "covering with gold (gilt) something that is already beautiful in its own right.")

Shakespeare actually wrote (in King John) �to paint the lily�:

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

The designs of the characters themselves, and the OT/AAT intelligence built into the font to more effectively use those characters and their variants, are two different things. The addition of OT tables fixes the one main issue I have with a design like Zapfino, so I applaud Linotype for their continued pursuit of this project. Perhaps when the correct tools are available, the next Zapfino will include both OT and AAT tables. And who knows, maybe even Graphite.